The Promise

So for some reason I woke up wide awake at about 4:30 this morning, not really normal for me especially since I was up at 11, and then 1 again...normally I would be dragging myself out of bed when the alarm went off at 4:50. After much time in prayer and in the word I now know why.

I had met with a friend last night & there are some huge life changes happening with her, changes that would and could change the rest of her life. Ultimately what we confirmed in our 4 hour talk last night was that there is a disconnect with her & the position God has in her life. She has allowed other things to be number one...and He has to be number one.
No matter what.

So...as I'm awake at 4:30 I am prompted to pray & pray & pray earnestly for her & the people currently in her life. (This is a new thing for me, I've always wanted to be a prayer warrior, and I believe this was that first step in that journey...) I was broken for her and the people in her life, ultimately with out God in the #1 spot in our hearts & lives we are living a dangerous life.
Its scary.
Its lonely.
So as I continued pray I am prompted to get in the word. I asked the Lord to reveal something to me. "Show me Lord why you have me up an hour earlier than normal, and why you have me here." He brought me to Galatians 3. This chapter talks about the law & how we no longer have to live under the law since the Seed, that which is Christ, came & did away with the law. It says in Gal 3:24-25 "So the law was put in charge to LEAD US TO CHRIST that we might be justified through FAITH. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. (Here's the kicker...) v29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and HEIRS according to the promise."
So as I read that; I am prompted to remind myself of that promise God gave to Abraham...so I read Genesis 12:1-3

1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
2 "I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."

Then I read the commentary:
"God promises to bless Abram and make him great, but there was one condition. Abram had to do what God wanted him to do. This meant leaving his home & his friends and traveling to a NEW land where God promised to build a great nation from Abram's family. Abram obeyed, walking away from his home for God's promise of even greater blessings in the future.
God may be trying to lead you to a place of greater service and usefulness for him. Don't let the comfort and security of your present position make you miss God's plan for you."

And wow.
I sit.
And I know,
This was for my friend. I don't know what that looks like for her. I don't know if that just means a new place is putting the Lord first in her life. I don't know if that is a literal "get up and move" somewhere.
All I do know is that God is calling her to move with Him leading her.
She, as are all of us, HEIRS of this promise!! He WILL make us great, He WILL bless us, he WILL make our name great, and we WILL be a blessing to HIM....if we pick up and move.

So now, I ask you as I'm asking myself too....Will you allow God to fulfill this promise in YOUR life too? Will you allow him to make you great, even if it means losing everything?

Year Six

This Sunday, April 26th, marks the sixth year I've been married! I am so excited to be married for six years. It is such an accomplishment these days! I think the thing that defines my happiness so much, is the of marking how far my husband & I have come! Thinking back to our first couple years of marriage & the way we communicated & how we functioned as a family is vastly different then the way we operate to this day. The Lord has been our strength & is who we look to when we don't feel like getting through another day, but he also another part of our success can be attributed to the book: Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs.
This book transformed how we work through conflict & how we function as a married couple. The main principles that we took from this book was that the man needs Respect & the woman needs to be Loved. Plain & simple. Sounds pretty elementary to me too....but it is truth. Once we understood the concept of him showing me love & me showing him respect our conflicts are dissolved very quickly.
Its been an amazing journey filled with ups & down, hills & valleys, lows & highs, but we have learned so much & have gleaned so much from these past 6 years, that I can't wait till the next 20 to see what we learn in that time!!

Freedom!

So over the past 5 years, my husband & I have been on a journey of learning what it means to honor God with our finances. A huge catalyst for our change was when we read the book Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey: www.daveramsey.com
This book revolutionized how we pay our bills & structure our budget. He talks about paying off the smaller bills first & working your way up to the bigger ones. He also touches on the fact that not only is this an area of discipline, but God needs to be involved as well. Making prayer be the first thing you do before you jump into your next financial purchase. That was huge for us because we never had really let God into our financial lives. And now, today....because of the principles we learned from Ramsey we have become a family that is in control of our money, not controlled by it! Today is proof of that, we are paying off one of our biggest debts that we had incurred over the years!!! Praise GOD!!! He has changed us from the inside out & we have learned a lesson that has changed how we operate financially! This is a day to remember & celebrate!!! Thank you Lord!!

April Fools Day...but this is no joke!

I have been so blown away at the impact the Lord is allowing my little life to have on people! See...five years ago he started a work in my heart, one the required me to Love God will ALL of me...which meant giving him just that -->ALL of me. So through out that process he has exposed some of the deepest darkest depths of my heart & brought it to light. Another area he has brought to life was my weight. For as long as I can remember weight has been an issue in my life (I was on a diet in 2nd grade! not kidding!). Over the past 5 years the Lord has been requiring me to give Him all of me, including my weight. I thought this was an absurd idea, I mean really who does that! But the short story is, is that slowly he has been changing me from the inside out & molding me and shaping me into who He wants me to be...all He asked of me, was that I was faithful & followed. He had to completely change my paradigm & change my idea of "losing weight" to a view of "Honoring God with my body" It hasn't been easy but over the past 4-6 months he has allowed me to see the effects of my obedience! One being the health aspect, but the biggest one is seeing how my story has affected other people! I have seen people become encouraged & inspired to press on when its hard because of my example...which is ONLY because of the work the Lord did in my heart. ALL the glory is his for sure. So as I write this my prayer is that if in this small way he would allow me to keep encouraging people, to keep pressing on toward health, keep running this race he has me on, and keep pointing & encouraging people toward Christ! I am nothing with out him!

You asked & He spoke.

So these past couple weeks for whatever reason I have been struggling with an old issue in my heart. I for some reason have picked it back up & started to carry it again. I asked the Lord to speak to me this morning in my devotion time & He did! Listen to this! I was reading Numbers 32-33 & in 33:55 it says:

55 " 'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.

The Lord was warning the Israelites to get rid of the wicked people that were inhabiting their land, but they were hesitant to get rid of them. Whether it was because they were comfortable with it, they knew what to expect, they were familiar with this struggle...whatever the case my be they were not telling these people to leave. This spoke right to where the heart of where I'm at. in 55 it says...."Those you ALLOW to remain..." It is amazing how fast we can forget that small lesson! I am in control of what I ALLOW in my heart, or WHO I allow in my life! I do not have have to pick up old habits, hurts or hang ups! I WILL tell this to get out of my land before it causes anymore trouble!!!
Thank you Lord for speaking right to the heart of where I'm at! I love you & am grateful you don't let me suffer in silence, and I am CHOOSING to let it go! ♥

Where I came from.

So this past week or two I've been really wishing I could forget where I came from. Not where I was physically raised, not even the family I came from, what I mean is, where I've come from in the last 3 years. I wish I could just forget a certain part of my life that caused me so much pain. There are so many constant reminders that I just wish I could take that out of my memory. I was taught this verse just recently:

Job 23:10
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

This verse is what is keeping me pressing forward. Knowing that the Lord is for me & on my side & wants whats best for me, and wants the best me! Keeps me going forward...So until next time, I will come forth as gold!

The last night

Well tonight is my last night in Chicago. I've been here since Saturday visiting my dear friend Erica. Being here in the beginning made old thoughts, and habits come back up in my heart. It was odd to feel those & remember, but the Lord is good & gracious to give me support through those rough patches! It was amazing because the very morning I was struggling, I sent a text to my accountability friend to pray for me. She was a good support to me that day to remember that it wasn't real & to pray. Then the sermon that morning was on Job 23:10 "He knows the way that I take; and when he was tried me, I shall come forth as gold!" amazing.
Some highlights were:
Gold is made by melting, then you bind it together, and then there is a separation process; Just like God wants to do to us. I learned that Every trial we face is allowed by God for our ultimate good! And that Good = all we need, not all we WANT! That was a huge reminder for me! Also, trials need not steal our joy, because they bring us to the power of God, because they prove that we are God's children, because they increase our ENDURANCE, and finally because they build our intimacy with Jesus! Another point was that until I embrace my trial in unwavering submission to God, I will not reap the good! And then the one thing that stuck out most to me was that our weakness opens the power to God's strength. God doesn't exist for our comfort! His goal is to make us HOLY.
I felt like I was supposed to be there at Harvest that morning. I felt like the Lord made that sermon for me! Our God is so good and gracious, and cares so much for us. Even in our weakness, he is STILL strong. He is still there! He still cares & wants to continue refining us over & over.
Lord, may I stay at your feet. Humbled and patient. May my heart be so near yours, may I be blameless. May I be a tool that you use for your ultimate good.
Thank you for teaching and loving in this way!